By Ken Storey
Twitter | Blog
The CNL Heritage Park groundbreaking happened on Nov 28. The event was private but we were able to grab a few pictures while passing by. The new 85,000sq ft office building replaces the beautiful but aged Dan T. McCarty State Office Building. Sadly the new building looks more like something out of an Seminole County office park than something that belongs on a busy iconic Winter Park corner. The site is being developed by CNL Commercial Real Estate.
The city of Winter Park had long sought a developer or teneant for the property. After reviewing many proposals the city finally decided to go with CNL who did a trade with the city in which the city traded the State building property (4.99 acres valued at $5M in 2011| 23 per sq ft of land) for CNL's Progress Point property over on Orange Ave at the intersection of Denning Dr and Minnesota Ave (3.73 acres valued at $4.9M in 2011| 30 per sq ft of land). The city is still exploring uses of the Progress Point property but it does plan to develop it with commercial and possible residential or senior living uses (personally I'm hoping for the apartment plan over the senior living plan as I feel the apartment residents would support the Orange Ave businesses, such as Ravenous Pig, more often than the senior housing residents may). The senior housing plan, proposed by Atlantic Housing, will go before the city council on Dec 10, at this point it looks like this will be the plan that will go forward for the Progress Point site.
The Heritage Park(State Building site) development will be finished in 2013. The three story building will be set back from Morris Blvd saving many of the large trees on the property while also providing some green space on the property (I'd love to see this green space given over to the city and full fledged pocket park developed here). The new building will be anchored by CNL Bank, which will be moving it's office currently two blocks east on Morris Blvd, and Brasfield & Gorrie, a general contractor who locally built the Ginsburg Tower at Florida Hospital along with Celebration Health, 801 North Orange, Park Maitland School, and The Plaza downtown among many others. Brasfield & Gorrie are the general contractor for the CNL office building that they will eventually occupy. While these will be the two main tenants about 40% of the building is still up for lease.
Denning Drive where the CNL office building is being built is about to go under it's own remodel with a new wider sidewalks and bike lanes, on street parking, and cut back from four lanes to two lanes. Also next to the new office building on the Winter Park Village site is a proposal for a new luxury apartment complex and a senior housing development is planned for just a block north.
Twitter | Blog
The CNL Heritage Park groundbreaking happened on Nov 28. The event was private but we were able to grab a few pictures while passing by. The new 85,000sq ft office building replaces the beautiful but aged Dan T. McCarty State Office Building. Sadly the new building looks more like something out of an Seminole County office park than something that belongs on a busy iconic Winter Park corner. The site is being developed by CNL Commercial Real Estate.
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| The original building had an X shape and a 50's retro vibe to it. |
The city of Winter Park had long sought a developer or teneant for the property. After reviewing many proposals the city finally decided to go with CNL who did a trade with the city in which the city traded the State building property (4.99 acres valued at $5M in 2011| 23 per sq ft of land) for CNL's Progress Point property over on Orange Ave at the intersection of Denning Dr and Minnesota Ave (3.73 acres valued at $4.9M in 2011| 30 per sq ft of land). The city is still exploring uses of the Progress Point property but it does plan to develop it with commercial and possible residential or senior living uses (personally I'm hoping for the apartment plan over the senior living plan as I feel the apartment residents would support the Orange Ave businesses, such as Ravenous Pig, more often than the senior housing residents may). The senior housing plan, proposed by Atlantic Housing, will go before the city council on Dec 10, at this point it looks like this will be the plan that will go forward for the Progress Point site.
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| Here is the comparison from CNL's original proposal |
The Heritage Park(State Building site) development will be finished in 2013. The three story building will be set back from Morris Blvd saving many of the large trees on the property while also providing some green space on the property (I'd love to see this green space given over to the city and full fledged pocket park developed here). The new building will be anchored by CNL Bank, which will be moving it's office currently two blocks east on Morris Blvd, and Brasfield & Gorrie, a general contractor who locally built the Ginsburg Tower at Florida Hospital along with Celebration Health, 801 North Orange, Park Maitland School, and The Plaza downtown among many others. Brasfield & Gorrie are the general contractor for the CNL office building that they will eventually occupy. While these will be the two main tenants about 40% of the building is still up for lease.
Denning Drive where the CNL office building is being built is about to go under it's own remodel with a new wider sidewalks and bike lanes, on street parking, and cut back from four lanes to two lanes. Also next to the new office building on the Winter Park Village site is a proposal for a new luxury apartment complex and a senior housing development is planned for just a block north.